Mardi Gras Parade Floats & Fun!

This weekend we experienced a few Mardi Gras parades going on around town. If you're wondering about Carnival, Mardi Gras, and Parades; Carnival, which is Latin for "kiss your flesh goodbye," is a long season between Christmas and Lent. Carnival officially begins in New Orleans on the Feast of Epiphany, or Twelfth Night - Jan. 6 - and continues until the midnight of Fat Tuesday, the day before Ash Wednesday. The intervening weeks are filled with balls, banquets and other social activities. "Mardi Gras" (which is French for Fat Tuesday) technically applies only to the day before Ash Wednesday. But "Mardi Gras" is also commonly used to refer to the whole Carnival season, especially the final frenzied two weeks when the most parades occur. If you associate Mardi Gras with nudity, then you should know that as far as nudity goes, it depends on where you're standing. In general, it occurs within the French Quarter. By nudity, I mean the flashing of body parts, either for beads or for other reasons. Which is why they warn people to keep their kids away. But don't go thinking that Mardi Gras offers nothing for kids, there are plenty of parades all over town that are kid friendly! Obviously since we have a 7 year old, we stayed away from Bourbon Street and caught some of the more family oriented parades. These parades boasted elaborate floats, costumes, and marching bands. Natalie, with our help, managed to catch hundreds of beads, plenty of stuffed animals, doubloons (which are coins commissioned for each parade), and plastic cups thrown by the parade Krewes and riders. Although parking was a major pain, we had so much fun, and learned a lot about which parades are the best for viewing for next year. Posted below are some of the hundreds of photos I have. You can also find more info and updates on Mardi Gras here.

Cute Quirk or Total Dork?

Anyone that knows me knows that I am a HUGE Grey's Anatomy fan. I own both Season 1 and 2, and NEVER miss an episode! Anyone that watches the series, knows about last night's episode. Ruben and I watched it as the DVR recorded all my other Thursday night shows. While watching the show last night, my emotions got to me, and what I would like to think as my cute, quirky side took over. Or at least this is what I tried to convince Ruben of when he was laughing at me for my actions. As I was saying, last night's episode was pretty freaken emotional. I don't know what Shonda Rhimes was thinking when she wrote these 3 episodes, or really what the outcome is going to be until next week. But last night, knowing Meredith was in the water, thinking that she may die, seeing McDreamy carrying her out of the water and perform CPR on her, all just made me cry. And not just cry, but I mean really cry, sobbing and all. I cried most of the hour, and then continued to sob on Ruben's chest for about another half. At first he thought something serious was wrong, but then I told him it was TV, he started to laugh and poke fun at me. Then when he realized how serious it was, he just held me and told me to let it all out. He kept telling me over and over that she can't die, since it is HER show. It IS Grey's Anatomy, and SHE is Meredith Grey. But it wasn't just the thought of her impending or potential death that had gotten me so upset, it was HOW he saved her. Such an incredibly romantic gesture; jumping in the water, saving her from drowning and hypothermia, carrying her ashore. It was his look of helplessness and desperation as he sat there waiting as the others worked on reviving her. Yes I got caught up in all the drama, and emotion; how could I not? Mer & Derek are my absolute favorite couple of all time - even if their love isn't really real. Maybe it all hit a little too close to home, the hurt of losing someone you love - or - maybe I'm just a big sappy dork! For now all I can do is just hope and pray that everything turns out okay in next week's conclusion. Till then keep those fingers crossed!

Decoding Dreams?

Ever had a really weird or unusual dream and woke up feeling scared, hurt, or wanting to know what it all meant? Seems I have odd dreams all the time. Actually, the dreams have only increased since my mom passed away last summer. Is that unusual? Shouldn't I be having dreams of happy memories, or getting loving messages in my sleep? I can even understand having dreams about her as if she were still alive, because most of my dreams are set in "present day". Also besides my mother, it seems one other common factor besides my dad, is Mexico. That may not seem all that odd given the fact that prior to her death my parents had retired to Mexico, but in all my dreams, the 3 of us are traveling to Mexico by one method or another, and something always happens. Sometimes slightly bad, really bad, or really out there things happen. The bad things that happen don't really happen to any of us, it's not like any one of us dies or anything, it's just this threat of something bad overshadowing every event. In this last dream, my mom, dad, and I were driving to Mexico in an RV. What's weird is I have never really been to Mexico, only as a shore stop on Cruise vacations. Anyway, we're driving, but inside the RV I somehow unleashed an ancient Mexican demon, a curse. I know, weird right? Anyway, I can't actually say what it looked like, as I don't remember. It was kind of like an evil black fog that creeps out - and again while no one got hurt, there was the threat that it was deadly, and I was the only one that could save us. I had what seemed like lightening that came out of my fingertips, and I had to destroy this thing and I had to do it a specific way, otherwise it just came back all over again. I kept struggling to kill it and flush it down the toilet, but in the end I never could manage to do it right, but before anything bad happened I woke up. I remember during the whole dream it was like I really physically hurt, and I was so angry and sad, and when I awoke I felt almost the same way, except I was feeling sick to my stomach and my head hurt. I'm not sure what any of symbolizes, maybe the demon is my mom's liver or death from it, and deep down I feel like I am the only one able to save her. I don't know. I don't understand why no one else is ever there, or why we're going to Mexico. I don't know why I have these weird dreams. I find myself not thinking about her as often as I should, and when I do, I feel guilty for not grieving more, although when I do remember her, like in the case of a special day, I just hurt. I feel like my heart is empty, like I can't breathe. But don't get me wrong, I am constantly saddened by her death, but at times feel like I should grieve more. All the time I am reminded of her by the silence, reminded of how much she used to call me, and how much I hated it, how it drove me nuts cause she'd call me several times a day, and now that she's not here to call me all the time I miss it so much, and I feel so bad for ever thinking or feeling that way, and just wish that I could go back in time and cherish every call, and make sure to tell her every time we talked how much I loved her. I'm sure the first couple years will be the hardest, and that I'll probably never feel the same. There are no do overs, I have to live hoping I did the best I could, that I was the best daughter I could be. It's just that she died so young, and what seemed like so suddenly. No one even knew she had something wrong with her liver, and it had been less than 6 months between the time she was diagnosed and when she died. Both my husband and myself have fears that I will end up repeating history, because of the damage I could be doing to my liver by being on all this medication. And still after all these months, I STILL don't understand why she couldn't get a transplant - there were many of us that volunteered. They make it look so fucking easy on TV and Movies, oh someones sick, let's do surgery and make it better! Why hadn't her doctor done a liver function test before, knowing that she was on tons of medication and it could be damaging to her liver, on top of knowing that nearly 30 years ago she had had this bariactric procedure done that was very much like the modern day gastric bypass surgery, and that this surgery alone could have caused the damage. Why was there no accountability from her doctor? She just prescribed, prescribed, prescribed. Something hurts? Let me write an RX. Well who checks for all those drug interactions? They say the pharmacist, but they really don't. I read an article the other day that some musician had died from taking xanax, an anti-depressant, and like 2 different kind of pain killers. They ruled it an accidental overdose....well I take all those things, so now I worry each time I take an ambiem that I could go to sleep and never wake up! But my doctor and pharmacist both gave me the ambiem knowing full aware of what I am on, and never said a word. Hell I worry just adding an antacid to it. What pill will be the one that makes it too much? I know, ya'll say what a morbid thought for Valentine's Day, but this is what is on my mind at this time. I also know that the rest are saying well just stop taking the medicine. Well that's not all that easy when you have major anxiety and depression issues on top of chronic pain and cancer that is in remission. So for now I just keep taking my meds one day at a time and find myself wondering if my meds are causing my freaky dreams, or if underlying guilt is. Will I ever find out the cause? Will I ever know the meaning? Will they ever stop? It seems I just can't win, it's either sleep and have these dreams, or suffer from insomnia. Sometimes I am afraid of going to sleep or dreaming. Can't I just have a normal loving memory like dream of her? UGH!
I at least hope the rest of you have sweet dreams, and have all of them come true for you this Valentine's Day. Me? I'm just waiting for my honey to come home from work so I'll get the dozen Godiva chocolate covered strawberried he ordered for me. I know, $80 for 12 strawberries is insane, but they are so divine!

Wind, Rain, Hail: Early Morning Storm Tears up the Town

Around 2:15 am, we awoke to the sound of the EAS Evac alarm sounding. Not like we had really been asleep with all the thunder, lightening and rain. We turned on the TV to see that a Tornado was heading our way. Ruben went and grabbed Natalie from bed, as I took the dog. We all camped out in the downstairs bathroom till about 3:00 am once we heard the storm had passed. Luckily the Tornado didn't touch down near us, but did go on to hit 3 other towns in Jefferson Parish and Orleans Parish. For a rather small twister, it certainly caused quite a bit of damage. It tore through a motel, flipped a firehouse, reduced lots of houses to nothing but sticks, and not only injured several, but managed to kill one (that we know of.) The storm left 30,000 people without power this morning. The storm reminded me of when I was a child growing up in Illinois. It seemed like half my life had been spent in the bathroom. There's times I remember my mom calling me from work, telling me to go sit in the tub until she called back and told me it was OK to get out. Luckily I've never experienced a Tornado first hand, although I have seen one fairly up close and personal while watching an air show on Scott Air Force Base. Getting up at 7:00 to get Natalie ready for school just was not an easy task, as I don't think I ever went back to sleep. Actually I was quite surprised to find that school was in session today, but I guess that's kind of a good thing, she needs all the school she can get. Ruben and I are both extremely upset with both the NV School System and LA School System. After enrolling her in 1st grade (where she should be, she graduated kindergarten in 2006), they determined that she did not meet the requirements of the LA School System. I always said that 2 hours and 45 minutes of kindergarten in NV was a waste of time, and it appears I was right. The school wanted my permission to send her back to kindergarten. Ruben and I got the impression that none of the 1st grade teachers wanted to deal with her to try to catch her up, which is why we're so pissed, but according to the principal, the kindergartners here are on NV 1st grade level - meaning they can already read and write. The 1st graders here are expected to read a book each night, write a 5 sentence paragraph daily, and do math which included beginning Algebra. Hell I wasn't even taught Algebra till 7th or 8th grade! I know every school or state is different, and we know we enrolled her in the highest ranked school in the district, but still to be reduced to a nap time at 7 is so upsetting to us, because we know she is much smarter than that. UGH! I just try to remain focused on the positive, being in a top ranked school means a much better education than she could get anywhere else!
Anyway, check out the damage done to this motel:

Scrappin' Dreams

I finally managed to find my way over to a Joann's store to do pick up some scrapbooking supplies (like I need more HA!), but found much to my disappointment that this particular store had very little to offer the world of scrapbooking. This store seemed to specialize more in fabrics and sewing notions than anything else. However, I did find a few great bargains there. Anytime I find new supplies, I start getting that itch, the desire to crank out some pages - but with all of my things spread out in boxes all over the place and no real area set up to work at, all I can do is wait until the creative urge passes. In the meantime, I found the hedge clippers and started trimming up the bushes in front of the house. Ruben was definitely surprised to see all the work I had done when he got home. But it seems that bit of yard work not only made my arm sore and hand/wrist hurt, but it also used up all the energy I had in me. Yesterday Ruben started to bring the desk upstairs to set up the scrapbook room, but I just didn't have it in me o do anything. I found myself sleeping on and off most of the day and wondering why I am suffering so much from fatigue. I wish I could find something to give me the boost I need. There is still so much to be done around here, and I can't find the strength to do anything. I don't quite get it. How am I ever going to meet my goals of being published or getting on a design team if I can't even find the energy to unpack a few boxes? At least I did manage to get a few things out of the way, since I found and met with some of my new doctors. I saw the general surgeon last week, and he's getting the ball going on getting approval for another mastectomy. I'm waiting to hear back from him and the plastic surgeon once things are approved and we're ready to schedule my first surgery. I'm nervous, but anxious at the same time. I can't wait to close this chapter of my life and start the next.

Back on the patch.

The last few days I haven't been feeling too well. As I said in a post below, I blew chunks pretty bad, and it really made me mad cause I had just eaten my Godiva chocolate covered strawberries a bit earlier that I had gotten for my birthday. When you pay $6 a strawberry, it's quite upsetting to end up throwing them up instead of enjoying them in your belly = ). Even though I had gotten sick, I don't think the berries had anything to do with it, as the night before I had been feeling sick to my stomach - and since then, I still have been feeling ill even though I haven't had the urge to purge. I've also noticed that I'm having major internal temperature control problems. One minute I'm freezing cold, the next I'm soaking wet from sweat. Ruben thinks maybe I have a bug again, but just in case it's not that and I'm experiencing hot flashes again, I've pulled out my old blood pressure patches and am now wearing one. I haven't had any hot flashes in about a year, and if I have, they have been VERY mild, whatever it is that I am having now I feel like I need to shower every hour, as I'm afraid I might stink from sweating so bad. Unfortunately due to my cancer, I cannot have hormone therapy to properly relieve my menopause symptoms, and will likely suffer off and on again for the rest of my life. I just hope that Ruben is right and it is a bug, however now that I have some fresh berries as yesterday was our anniversary, I am praying to keep them down this time!

And so it begins.....

So yesterday I met with my new Plastic Surgeon. Great guy. Somehow I managed to feel pretty comfortable with him, while lying there on the table, robe open, my 1 breast flopped to the side, and my fat roll(s) out in the open with no where to hide. First he wants me to go see this other breast surgeon and probably have a mammogram done. Together they plan on writing a letter to my insurance to get approval to remove my current breast and replace it with an implant. His plan is for them to do the mastectomy/reconstruction together. Then he will go on by himself and insert a tissue expander underneath the muscle on the right side. After feeling the area, he's pretty sure that my previous doctor had to cut the muscle there, and says he may have to bring a piece of muscle around from my back. It will take about 8 to 12 weeks of weekly injections for the expander to stretch my skin and increase by at least 50%. At which time he will pull that expander out and replace it with an implant. Since all of this may coincide with my trip to Disney, he said we can put off the final surgery till after, but at least I will be going while my fake boob stays here. No more worrying about it floating off and scaring the kiddies! He doesn't think getting approval for the mastectomy will be a problem given my history and my currently lumpy breast tissue. He told me the only two things that may pose a problem will be if my muscle was cut (in which he said the fix would be to take a piece of back muscle) and the nipple on my other breast dying from lack of blood, which he said would have to be removed if that occurs. both are fine with me. I just want this done and over with, so I can close this chapter of my life. I explained to him that I am not interested in having Pam Anderson implants. I do not want my breast to be under my chin, nor do I want a uni-boob. However, I do have the concern that at one time I used to be a D cup, then after losing 90 lbs. I went down to a C cup - and while I have re-gained a little bit of weight these past 6 months, my goal is to lose another 50 - 60 lbs. I don't want to be stick thin, but I would like my body back, and it is very important to me that while my weight may fluctuate, that I maintain proportionate sizing. I want to remain a very full C cup. Ruben asked why the hell I chose that, why not push for a D, so I said that maybe I would talk to the doctor about it again. Maybe be a very full C/small D cup. I don't want to end up top heavy, but I used to have a nice rack and I'll be damned if I don't get it back. Then again, I have enough back problems as it is! So I go see this other doctor on the 8th, and once they obtain approval, we will proceed with at least the initial surgery. He even told me since I have such horrible veins, and I will be looking at multiple surgeries, he plans on suggesting that I get a usable port put back in. I agreed with him, just cause I hate being stuck 5 times trying to start an IV, but then again as I feel the painful scar over my left breast, I am reminded of my last port and how much it hurt and still hurts to this day. I guess since I only had it in for about 4 months, the scar tissue never healed before they re-cut it and removed it. So now I have excess scar tissue that will never heal, and a painful memory of having it removed in a doctors office which I WILL NEVER DO AGAIN! Matter of fact, somewhere around here, I still have the port they cut out of me. It was a big sucker, about the size of a 50 cent piece. I don't look forward to having another one put in as that will be one more procedure I will have to have done, but if it saves me an arm full of bruises on several other occasions, then I am all for it.
So not only is the ball now set in motion, but I have also said out loud to a doctor my wishes for removing my other breast, and unless the insurance company denies the procedure, there is no turning back now and changing my mind! Right now so I don't seesaw on the idea, I keep reminding myself that I have always said that if I were to ever get implants that I would rather get 2 than 1, that I don't want 1 hard Carmen Electra boob and one normal soft breast. So keep your fingers crossed that this all goes smoothly this time!

7 years! Where did the time go?

On this day 7 long, long, years ago, Ruben and I married before a small gathering of family and friends at a little chapel known as The Special Memory Wedding Chapel in Las Vegas. Now obviously since we have a 7 year old daughter we have been together far longer than just the 7 married years, but now thinking about that day, it seems like 7 years has been an eternity! Also, thinking of 7 years reminds me of the term 7 year itch. I hope that no such thing exist, as marriage itself isn't easy. I always say that even the happiest of marriages is a work in progress, but throw in the potential for relationship disaster based on infidelity, and work in progress would take on a whole new meaning. I myself have no desire what-so-ever to ever be with anyone other than my husband, but given the hardship of the last few years, I have repeatedly told him that I wouldn't care if he had an affair as long as I never found out about it. I know that my condition has made not only our marriage more difficult, but living with me even more extremely difficult. How can you get everything you need from someone who is constantly a hormone deprived bitch that only has one breast? I would understand his need to seek solace with someone else. I just would never want to know about it. Luckily, I have a man who would never do that to me, who is in it for the long haul, through thick and thin - and for that I am eternally grateful. Not only did I marry my best friend, but I married a wonderful man, who loves me more than anything, and for that, I could not ask for anything more. Despite the day, we have no plans really for celebrating. Last night we had some PF Changs for dinner, and I also picked up some small gifts after I met with my new pain doctor. Basically our big presents aren't here yet, so we both have Guess men and women's colognes for now. Our big presents consist of a new HP laptop for me, although there's really nothing wrong with the one I've got - it's just that the internal wireless card sucks! I also went ahead and broke down and let Ruben get his new TV. It's a 57" wide screen Mitsubishi 1080p HDTV and stand. That TV will now go into the family room, and our other 48" wide screen will go into his game room. Personally, I wouldn't mind a bigger TV than the 32" we have in the bedroom, but trying to get that nearly 400 lb. TV up the stairs was murder! It's an older Sony tube TV, so that's why it weighs a freaken' ton! Anyway though, today for our anniversary, I get the great pleasure of being felt up by another man as I have an appointment today to meet with my plastic surgeon. I'm scared. I hate the thought, the anxiety, of going through breast reconstruction again. Yesterday I met with my new pain management doctor. He seemed like a pretty nice guy. He decided he doesn't want to change any of my meds now. He'd like for me to start exercising my arm once again, cut back on caffeine, and see if the two help any with my insomnia, stress, or anxiety. He doesn't really care for the anxiety medication I take, but life without it or something for anxiety will be a living hell. You know sometimes I think that even if cancer doesn't kill me, it still will be the death of me per say. I think and worry so much about it coming back, that I think my anxiety is eating away at me and making me sick.....it would certain explain why I've been having nausea and why I barely made it to the bathroom yesterday before blowing chunks all over the tile, sink, and toilet.....I'm just glad I held it long enough to avoid the carpet!
Hope the rest of you are feeling better and have a great day!

Another Day.

Another year, another birthday. Like many, after you hit a certain age, you'd just like to forget, to stop aging, and to just count it as another day - but your body disagrees with you, it knows how old you are, exactly how old you are, and it makes sure to remind you!
I woke up this morning feeling tired and crappy. Wasn't sure if it was the whole getting up at 7:00 am everyday thing catching up with me, or the not sleeping well the past 3 nights cause Ruben had been out of town. In any case, I laid in bed, barely awake, hardly able to open my sore, puffy, itchy eyes. In fact, my whole face was red, itchy and swollen! Ruben reminded me of the day by saying Happy Birthday. Then it hit me. The itchiness, the sleepless nights - it was all anxiety because I turn 33 today. Watching American Idol last night with Ruben (I DVR'd it from Wed. night) we had seen this nice looking man on there and was shocked to find out he was only 15, and I said holy shit, I'm old enough to be his mom! For the first time in my life a statement like that could actually apply to me, which only made me feel older, naturally! WOW! Now I really do want to forget about this day! It's bad enough that my license expires today and I cannot find my birth certificate that I need in order to get a new one in Louisiana. So since I cannot renew my license for Nevada over the phone, and I can't get my birth certificate from Illinois over the phone and have no relatives living there, I have to fill out a form, mail it there, and wait for them to send it back to me in order to get another copy. Let's just hope I don't get pulled over between now and then!
But as for today goes, it's just another day for me. I got a a Nintendo DS, which is actually more than what I had wanted for my birthday. I don't want a cake or anything, just maybe either some Godiva chocolate covered strawberries or some beignets from Cafe Du Monde - but I don't know if we're going to drive across the river today to go to the mall or not, so we'll see. Thanks for all the birthday wishes - hope you all have a wonderful day!

Where do I begin?

It's been awhile since my last post. I'm up to my eyeballs in boxes, and haven't had a shower all weekend! The movers came on Tuesday and brought 2 trucks FULL of boxes. Despite crushed boxes, belongings, and a missing dresser, we were overjoyed to finally have our beloved cal-king back. And yes, I did say missing dresser. We don't quite understand how they lost a dresser! Luckily it was neither the one to our bedroom set, or Natalie's. However it was to be the dresser for our guest room, and had been the hutch/changing table from when Natalie was a baby. Oh, we're also pretty sure that Ruben got jacked for his PSP, as we've been unable to locate it anywhere!
As for one of the crushed boxes, it so happened to turn out to be a box of scrap paper. I am livid. The paper is warped, bent and folded. If it were just a few pieces I'd be fine, but seeing as it was a full box of nearly 2,000+ sheets, I am furious because to the moving company they are going to see "just" paper, but to me that's at least $1000!
And as if this alone weren't bad enough, my brand new washer and dryer hardly fits as they are over-sized, and Ruben broke off the copper pipe half way down the wall trying to adjust the hoses and such. So that is why we've had the water turned off all weekend, so we wouldn't flood the inside of the wall or cause mold and water damage. Luckily the plumber is here now fixing the mess all for the bargain price of $300! But it will so be worth it just to shower and do laundry, not to mention flush the toilets!
Today was a big day for Natalie, she returned to school after months of learning at home. She's very excited. I spent most of the weekend running around like a mad woman trying to find her school uniforms. Can't wait till 4:00 to see her get off the bus and find out how her 1st day was!
Ruben will be out of town for the rest of the week. I can't believe he won't be here for my birthday! Not that it matters much, it's just another day to me, however I did get a gift, and I got it early. No, I didn't get any jewelry this year - I'm running out of things I want! But I did get a Nintendo DS. I know, it sounds so childish, but Natalie got one for her birthday, and she's gotten me hooked on playing Nintendogs. So now that I have one version (Dalmations Limited Edition), and she has another (Labs), we can play together wirelessly. She gets a kick out of it, it's fun, a great way for me to relieve some stress and also exercise my hand - plus I also got Brain Age and Big Brain Academy to boost my brain that feels like mush since chemo!
Next week I have an appointment to see a plastic surgeon. I'm not really looking forward to that. I was thinking I wanted to get it all taken care of before going to Disney World in May, but Ruben seems to think that hitting Disney shortly after having breast reconstruction surgery will be a big no-no. He thinks I will be in too much pain to enjoy anything, and will ruin the trip for Natalie - but my thing is that we will be going to the water park too, and while I'm not a big fan of bathing suits, I still don't want to get in in a shirt and shorts with my fake boob. It would be my luck that the water would wash it loose and some kid would find it floating in the pool somewhere. What a nightmare that would be!
Anywho, I'm off to finish some unpacking. Got lots more to do, and zero motivation. I'm afraid to find what else they smashed up.
Oh, I almost forgot. I don't want to hear no shit about the freaken Bears beating the Saints. I think it's bullshit that they re-sodded the field prior to a playoff game. If they had played here in the Dome, no one would have been slipping around and could have held on to the ball, as it's nice and dry in the Dome. But at least the Patriots aren't going to the Superbowl again. I for one am sick and tired of them. They've won 3 out of the last 5 Superbowls! It was nice to see the Colts score, and get a turnover before the Patriots had a chance to score another touchdown and win! Other than the Saints, I can't think of anyone other than Manning who deserves to go to the Bowl more.
Oh, we also have some newbies that just moved into town. Brangelina bought a house in the French Quarter. Personally I would have rather seen them take their $3,750, 000 and donate it to NOLA Habitat for Humanity. $3.75 million could have built a lot of homes for people displaced during Katrina. Besides, it sounds as though Angelina could use the positive publicity right now......
If you want to see the property they bought you can check it out here.

Blog Challenge

1. I've come to realize that my life is... never going to be easy and I MUST take care of my health!
2. I am listening to... my daughter playing and traffic outside.
3. I talk... to my dog a lot, and have come to realize that all the phone calls from my mom that used to annoy me, I now miss terribly now that she is gone.
4. I love... my life despite all the recent trials and tribulations.
5. My best friends... know that I would DO ANYTHING for them.
6. Love is... putting up with me on a daily basis.
7. Somewhere, someone is thinking... I love and miss them.
8. I'll always ... be worried about cancer returning.
9. The last time I cried was because... I was being stuck repeatedly for an IV.
10. My cell phone... is always on.
11. Before I go to bed... I take my meds, go to the bathroom, and kiss my daughter goodnight.
12. Right now I am thinking about... how much I can't wait to move into our house.
13. Today I... was stranded at home with no Durango, as my hubby took his Ram to be serviced before the warranty ran out.
14. Tonight I will... counting one less day till I get to sleep in my old bed.
15. Tomorrow I will be... meeting an Electrician to have repairs made to our breaker box..

Thanks, Cynthia, for coming up with this challenge!

Once again, it's all coming together!

Yesterday not only did we got our re-imbursement check (thank god!), the guys began installing the tile in our house. At least one bathroom should be finished today, and they also started laying the carpet. We still have to finish up some painting, but our fence is now all done. Now we just need to find a place to buy a ton of dirt, so we can level out the yard, fill in the gap under the fence, and hopefully prevent some of the flooding we get in our yard. The movers will be delivering our things on the 16th and the cable company comes on the 18th. I can't wait to have my bed back, along with the rest of my stuff!

Also today, my sister and I both booked our vacations for Disney World. May 1st thru 8th. It's going to be so much fun, we bought park hopper tickets that also include entrance to the water parks. We can't wait for all the excitement. This will be the first time for us to actually meet my newest nephew Matthew, who turns 1 next month. Man how time flies. But what's really going to be great is to spend a vacation with my family from Hawaii. Now I just have to find someone to care for our dog. I just hate the idea of leaving her, but since she's not allowed at the hotel, there's no sense in bringing her and paying for boarding there. It breaks my heart to leave her, but hopefully we'll get someone to care for her as much as we do.

How about them 'Boys?

Sorry Lora, but your 'Boys ate it. No more Superbowl dreams for them. One muffled snap, and on go the Seahawks. I'm sure my brother Billy feels your pain as he's a big Cowboys fan too. On our end, we're really hoping the Giants will win today, so we can play the Seahawks next week. We really don't want to end up playing Eagles. I kinda wish now that we had bought those Playoff tickets for next weekend. Regardless of who will play, it will be a great day at the Dome!

My big ol' nappy 'fro

I know I posted a picture below of my new look, but since it rains constantly and there is so much damn humidity in the air here, I can never wear it straight for longer than 1 hour. So here I am with all this nasty curly hair, and I'm still trying to figure out if I should shave my head again (partially) or just ride out this nightmare and let it grow more. Patience is a virtue I do not have, unfortunately.

Thing is though, for as long as I live here I will have a 'fro, so it's stay short and shaved forever, or grow long and wear curly forever - Either way, it's a curse!

Bye Week

Tomorrow the Saints have a bye week, if I'm not mistaken, it's all thanks to Dallas (sorry Lora!). Having a bye week is great news, we really need the rest for the Superbowl. So after tomorrow, there's only 2 more weeks to Superbowl. Let's just hope we win the games to make it there!

I think this might be the first Superbowl I've been excited about since I got married on Superbowl Sunday on January 30th, 2000 (in which the Rams won!)

I can hear the chants now.......
Who dat say they gonna beat dem Saints? Who dat, Who dat?
Come on ya'll we need to yell a little louder!

(oh yeah, if you get the chance, check out the localized versions of Baby Boy's - This is the Way We Live - New Orleans Version, or local band Ghost + Birdfinger who recorded Who Dat 2006 - great music, for a great town!)

Also, in the news -
The Associated Press today named Saints Head Coach Sean Payton as Coach of the Year, the most prestigious award a head coach can garner. AWESOME!

YAAAAAY! What a GREAT YEAR for NOLA!

Hospitals

Oh how I hate them!

When I said crappy, I didn't mean LITERALLY!

Yesterday I ended up taking a visit to the local Emergency Room at Tulane. I have to say that hospital is quite dirty and slow as all hell! I'm guessing Tulane is like the "county" hospital. I would have much rather gone to Oscher across the street, but I didn't see them on our plan. In any case, I woke up yesterday feeling extremely ill, and in major pain! My right side hurt so bad, it felt like a broke hip or something - not to mention how much my stomach hurt. I thought that maybe I had the stomach flu, plus being out of pain meds put me in such a painful, uncomfortable state. So off we went to the ER, there wasn't really anyone there - but the wait took sooooooooo long. Once they FINALLY called me back, it was only the beginning of an even longer wait. First, when the doctor heard my symptoms, she said that since I haven't been on morphine for 5 days that my body was detoxing, and that detox resembles the flu - you feel like you've been hit by a truck (I had the chills and all too). But she also had concern that it might be acute appendicitis, because of the area that hurt. My blood test came back with really high White Blood Cells count - which I had higher counts when I went through chemo too, but this damn doctor kept pushing that it could still be appendicitis. So they made me drink 2 large 22 oz. cups of the nastiest tasting shit I've ever drank over a course of an hour, then wait another hour and do a CT Scan. They gave me a shot of what they said was morphine, but if it was it was not long acting, they also gave me phenergen, so I wouldn't throw up the crap they made me drink. After waiting another hour, they finally take me back to get my scan, then I have to wait another hour for the results - but this time, I'm back in pain and getting extremely agitated over the whole process. Needless to say, my appendix is fine. But if you know me, you know I don't take IV's well. It's hard when you've been reduced to only having one available arm and having HORRIBLE veins. The damn snooty ass nurse had to stick me 3 times just to get it in, and even then it still didn't flow right. I still don't even understand the purpose of the IV, because they didn't even have me finish the bag of sodium chloride, I used less than half. After being there for nearly 9 hours, and paying $100, I was finally released with a RX for a very mild pain med, so I still feel like I've been hit by a truck, and yes I still have the stomach bug. Which as it turns out really was/is a stomach bug, as my daughter showed the same signs shortly after arriving home. So here I am, all bruised with tape marks, still in major discomfort, unable to go out to our house to help paint today. Ruben went ahead and took Natalie and Lexie with him, and once there was surprised to find that our fence was already more than half up. I didn't even know they began working on it yet. I can't believe they are installing it in the rain! All I can say is I sure hope that our reimbursement check for selling and buying a house comes on Monday, because starting next week, I am going to owe a whole lotta money to the fence company ( NOLAFENCE.COM ) and to the carpet company. But more importantly, I just hope that I am feeling better before then! As you can see, they busted the vein in my wrist. Damn IV's, I HATE THEM!

What a crappy day for a birthday!

Today my daughter turned 7. I can't believe it - actually I can't believe so far that either of us have lived this long. Today was all her call, so we spent the day at the movies. The weather was horrible out, my camera actually kept fogging up! It was overcast and raining, yet muggy and warm - UGH! So first we saw Night At The Museam. It was pretty good, had a good laugh, and not really scary or anything. Then we saw Eragon - gotta say this one really took some time to get into the whole story, and she was scared during quite a few scenes - it also appears there will be a sequel given the way they left off. So anyway, she got all hopped up on soda, popcorn, and M&M's. It's not like the theatre has the best food, so what do you expect? Afterwards we went home to find our 3rd airbed was flat and had to go buy a new one. Man I cannot wait to get my nice comfy cal king bed back! My back reallllllly misses it. So once home we had ice cream cake and let her have her gifts. She got a new Nintendo DS....now she has a Gamecube, a Gameboy SP, a Wii, and now a DS....talk about spoiled, but I guess like mother like daughter?!? She also got lots of games for all 3 (she just got the Wii for xmas), and I bought her this really nice 14kt gold tiara crown Disney Princess ring. I'll post some pictures below.
Tomorrow we'll be going back to our house to resume painting. It's slowly progressing - I think because I painted parts of Natalie's room twice. We painted it all this Disney Princess pink, and it was sickening. Like looking at Pepto Bismol everywhere, so I got some Disney purple paint and did some off walls. Getting the wallpaper off has been some of the hardest work - in some places it is stuck on good, and others I peeled up with no steam or chemicals - but painting the rest of the rooms the rich brown I chose has proven to be difficult, as you want many coats to make sure it looks really good. So we have to hurry up and finish what we can this weekend cause on the 12th the carpet and tile goes in, then the fence goes up - that should shock the neighbors.....they all have open yards, why? I don't want to see my neighbor, we don't want to be grilling and have them walk up and be like hey neighbor. Anyway, looks like we won't be all in till almost the end of the month, it's still a month early from our lease, but hopefully they won't complain.
So here they are, enjoy the pix. Hope your weekend isn't as wet as ours is going to be!

This is the Way We Live Video - Saints Version

Love dem Saints, and this kid (who ever he is) makes this video sooooo cute! Hope dem Saints go all the way to da Superbowl!

Is there hope for a better tomorrow?

Here it is just the 2nd day into the new year and I'm already questioning if 2007 will be any better than 2006. Ruben received word today that a good friend that he worked with in the Vegas office is dying of cancer - as if that's not enough to bring about another round of cancer-phobia, yesterday we took the day off from painting to relax at home and watch some movies. One of the movies I caught on HBO on Demand happened to be The Family Stone. At first it turned out to be somewhat funny - An uptight, conservative, businesswoman accompanies her boyfriend to his eccentric and outgoing family's annual Christmas celebration and finds that she's a fish out of water in their free-spirited way of life. Basically the family hates her, and she calls her sister to come join her at the inn. It later plays out that the mother is ill, and while they never really say what it is, they just mention she is "sick again" and "worse than before" and in one scene they flash a scar over her breast. As the movie ends, the uptight woman is ends up with the pot-head brother and her ex ends up with her sister, and it's Christmas again, but Mom is gone.....and that was the real kicker for me. I'm always constantly reminded of the risk of my own mortality from breast cancer and it scares the shit out of me....then add to it that my own Mother only lived to 60 and I sometimes think or feel like I only have a little more than 27 years left, and I'm so terrified by that thought. I don't want to die too young, and I don't want to grow too old. All of this really has me wondering, it's been so long since I've been to the oncologist, I just can't help but to think, what if it has come back? I freak out at every little bump I feel, and I'm at the point where I can't tell a bump from a lump and cannot remember what it originally felt like - but what if it isn't even in my breast, what if it somehow has come back and is now in my lungs or liver - which would be the first place it would spread - how would I ever know? It's not like I can feel a lump there. Maybe I'm just being a major hypochondriac, but I feel that when dealing with cancer, you've always got to be on your toes so it can be diagnosed as soon as possible if you want any chance at making a recovery. So all of this has lead me to one decision - I have to have my other breast removed. I think it's the only way I will get any piece of mind. So that's my big to do this year. As soon as we move in to our new house later this month, my top priority will be seeing a plastic surgeon to have it removed and discuss reconstruction. I also need to get in with an oncologist, and a pain management doctor again......and get back on track to losing weight. This year I have regained about 15 lbs. of the 90 lbs. I lost - just enough to make my pants feel uncomfortable, and while I have tried my usual tactics, they haven't worked and I'm being told it's because of my lack of hormones now. Without hormones it will be increasingly difficult for me to lose any weight. Thank goodness I get back my elliptical machine at the end of the month when we get our things out of storage! And hopefully I will get all those things before my license expires on my birthday (the 26th) cause my birth certificate is one of those items packed up and in storage and I need it to get a new driver's license! While we have lots on our to do list for our house in 2007, I have to make my health number one, cause I want to be here to celebrate many more New Year's.

On a side note, just 2 more days till my baby turns 7. I feel so old (24 days till I'm 33)!!!!! Also, that will mean in 28 days we'll celebrate 7 years of marriage (yes baby came first) although we've been together for a lot longer. It almost feels like a lifetime. Wow, the milestones we've made. I love you honey, I don't think I would be here today without you!

Reflections of 2006

All in all this year has been a fast and busy one. I feel like I haven't really been "home" all year - and when you really think about it, I haven't. Since the beginning of the year I've traveled back and forth from Elko to Vegas every other month or so for check ups with my doctor, in June when Natalie graduated kindergarten we went on vacation to Disney and San Diego, then traveled back to Vegas when my mom became deathly ill, I continued to stay in Vegas as my husband moved to Louisiana, then moved to Louisiana once the distance became too much to take, we lived in an apartment till our house finally sold at the end of November, bought a house mid December, painted and renovated all through Christmas, and New Years - the remodelling will most likely go on until mid January when we can finally have our things taken out of storage and delivered to us. Of course once again, it's been another year in and out of doctor's offices for me, yet I still have not had my reconstruction surgery done. Hopefully that will be something I will be able to have done in 2007. Christmas was a good one, although it didn't really seems like Christmas to me. Holidays just aren't the same once you've suffered a loss. Doesn't really matter anyway, it's more for my daughter, I have more than I could ever want or need - I just got new golf clubs, a craftrobo pro II, a new Sony Cybershot DSC-H5, a new iPod, and GPS. My daughter's birthday is coming up on the 4th, she will be 7, and it will be extremely hard for both of us without my mom. I can't even imagine what my birthday on the 26th will be like. I think putting 2006 behind me and moving on is the best thing for me. I'm looking forward to getting my scrapbooking room back and starting on some creative therapy, I think it will do my soul some good. I'm also planning on returning to playing golf now that we live in a golf community and Ruben bought me a new set of Hope clubs. Let's just hope that I can still swing them given my condition with the nerve damage in my elbow and the pain and numbness in my armpit and arm from my lymph nodes being removed. So far we have lots of plans for 2007. Not just for remodelling the house, but in February we have our first Mardi Gras, then this spring we are meeting my sister and her family (from Hawaii) at Disney World for a nice vacation, then later in the year we plan to head up to where I grew up near St. Louis, MO. Add surgery to that, Ruben's work schedule, Natalie's school schedule, and it will be another very busy year. I just hope it's a very healthy, happy year - for us and for all!

Christmas plans

What big plans do you have for Christmas and Christmas Eve?
I think we will be opening packages on the Eve and spending the whole week of Christmas painting the inside of our new house. We got an insane estimate of $9000 - which is $8000 more than the paint would cost, and about $5000 or $6000 more than I am willing to pay for paint! We need to hurry up and get the painting done so the carpet and tile can be installed - which we're getting for a bargain price of $10100! LOL. Guess that's the price you pay when you insist on having a bigger house. I knew with being close to 3700 square feet, it wouldn't be cheap, but there is so much more we want to do to this house. That's why I'll be offline all next week while we're painting day and night. Sounds like such fun doesn't it? Who else would like to give up their Christmas to help us paint? Not quite the same as Christmas past, but with no family here, and friends flying out for the holiday, it's just us and the house.
Wednesday while waiting to get estimates, we had fun being destructive and ripping off the old wallpaper. Of course I saved some just for my scrapbook. I will post some "work in progress" pictures as soon as I can, maybe even a few "after" pictures.
Hope you all have wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Public Apology

I have to apologize to everyone, including my dad about my previous rant below. While I'm still not thrilled with the idea that he might be dating, that's just because I am not ready for it, and have my own fears. In no way does any of it have to do with financial gain for myself - My husband and I are "sound" so to say. The only finances I worry about is that of my older brother who is handicapped, and does not earn or get enough money from Social Security to save for retirement, and sometimes doesn't handle his money in his best interest. Actually I'm more upset with my mother for not setting up some kind of trust for him, as he's been this way since birth. I'm sorry for the way I came across. I still have fears that ties between us could possibly be severed if he were to ever remarry. I worry because we are not blood relatives, we are only related by love and marriage - and as much as I worry about being displaced, it has absolutely nothing to do whatsoever with his happiness, because I do want him to be happy, and if another woman truly makes him happy, then I am happy for him.

Finally, a new look!

After much time, my hair has SLOWLY grown out to a point where I can blow dry it straight. My only problem is that there is too much humidity here to where it straight. It's been raining non-stop the last 2 days, and before that the temperatures were still nearing mid 70's. I really hate the nappy, frizzy, curls I've been cursed with. I even told Ruben I'm contemplating shaving my head short again. I can pull off a short shaved punk look, but I can't wear frizzy, curly hair. It drives me nuts if my hair isn't perfect. So should I be patient and let it grow longer and see how the curls go then, or should I grab the clippers?

Results from the game

It was a sad, sad day. I'm sure ya'll know we lost the game to the Redskins (by 1 freaken touchdown!!!), but became Division Champs all because both Atlanta & Carolina lost their respective games. So we still have a spot in the playoffs, but the title of Division Champs just isn't quite as sweet when we didn't actually earn the title by a win.

are YOU ready for some football?

I'm ready for some football. today's the big day! We leave in just over an hour to start the mad drive downtown to the Superdome to watch the Saints (HOPEFULLY!) kick the shit out of the Washington Redskins. If we manage this feat, then we'll clinch the division and go onto the playoffs! WOOHOO! This ought to be an awesome game. I've never been to a football game, so I'm really looking forward to buying a hat, a beer, some nachos, and definitely a foam finger! I'll be sure to get some pictures to share with you all, as my Santa Baby (Ruben) bought me a brand new Sony Digital Camera DSC-H5 that adapts to all my H1 lenses and such - so be sure to check back later for game day pics.
Oh, almost forgot the big news.......it's official! Friday we got the keys to our house. We are home owners agains! YAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!!!

Times like this......

It's during times like this, getting ready to close on our house, the holiday season nearing, that make me really miss my family. My family is spread too far away with my sister in Hawaii, my brother(s) and in-laws all in Vegas, my (step)father in Mexico, and most of all the recent passing of my mother to heaven. It's not quite been 5 months since she passed on 7/20. First there was her anniversary to mourn, then my sister's birthday, then Halloween and Thanksgiving, but now that Christmas is approaching it is becoming increasingly more difficult.....or maybe it's not just the holiday season. Last night I got an email from my (step)dad that had me broken down in tears. The thought has crossed my mind before, and each time before just thinking about it not only hurt, but made me ill, but now my thoughts were a reality. My (step)dad has began dating again, and while I don't know the details of it, and I don't want to know the details of it, it breaks my heart to know it. Maybe my mom and him had discussed it before her death and this is what she wanted, or maybe he is ready to move on - only he would be the one to really know if after less than 5 months if he's really ready to move on. All I know is that I'm not ready! All I can think about is that one day he'll remarry and all of us step kids will be out of the picture. Who then will help care financially for my brother Billy? The plan was that in the event of my parents death their estate was to be split between all of the kids - his 2 kids, and my mom's 4 kids. While we've already gotten jewelry and other items that she wanted us to have, everything else went to my (step)dad, then when he passes his estate will be split among the 6 of us - but if he remarries, that will screw up the equation as the house he owns in Mexico (that was bought with my mother) and all the savings and insurance money from my mother's insurance and his insurance, will then go to his wife - and my mom's 4 kids will get screwed out of everything....not like there's much to begin with anyway, but it's the point that counts. I don't want to be cut out of someones life, someone that I have considered my father for more than half my life, the only man I actually consider to be my father. I just don't want my mother or her kids to be forgotten and I am scared to death, because if I can't handle this news without a huge lump in my throat and tears in my eyes at 32, how is my 6 year old daughter going to feel about grandma being replaced?
I miss you mom, I wish you were here - I'd give anything for you to be here!

Pictures

Gave up on the fact that the damn pictures I just had printed won't fit within the cards I had bought for Christmas. I had the Natalie and Santa photo printed for all to see along with one self pic taken at the park. Wanted to send it out for those who haven't seen me since my hair grew back into the afro-bush that it is. I really hate this curly, frizzy, un-manageable state that it is in. Too short to blow dry straight and style, too long to curl and style - besides, I hate using bottles of hairspray to mold it, so for now I let the fro' grow and wear headbands to hold it back out of my face. I hate it, but it's easy and natural. Wish I had my old hair back, or my hubby would approve the shaven head look full time. Anyway, here's our "holiday" family photo, another self taken pic of our squished faces, and one from The Grand Canyon. Enjoy!

Everything's coming together

despite a few glitches. We've managed to get all our Christmas shopping done. I sent out the package to my sister today. I have all of our Christmas cards ready, however I made a huge error in judgement. I forgot that I had bought an odd sized card this year, and had some 4x6 picture printed for them. We haven't done formal family photos in a few years, instead we've been taking our own. This year I was just going to send out the picture of Natalie and Santa that is posted below, and a self portrait taken of the three of us at a park this fall to just a few family members....but, as I stated, I bought odd sized cards this year and 4x6 photos will not fit into the envelope. Oh well, it happens. I'll just have to buy some card envelopes from Office Depot and send them out separately. But overall, I think the best news is that everything with our house is back on track, and moving along. Our agent had an electrician inspect the house regarding the improper wiring, and to our surprise we found that there will be no holes in the walls or the tearing up of anything in order to fix the problem. Instead, he's just going to replace the breaker switch at the box, so in the event there is an overload on those wires, the breaker switch will trip and prevent any electrical fires. All for the affordable price of $400. A bargain I must say. I'm so glad it's not going to be quite as bad of a headache as I expected. Now we just need to finish escrow, and life will be grand. In fact, Ruben already has the contractor's calling him asking if he's ready for paint and such.
Speaking of paint, I think I have picked up every sample palette from every store, yet we have been unable to chose a color scheme from the paint chips. Oddly though, I was looking through the massive stash of scrap supplies I've purchased since leaving the old house in June, and found the perfect combination. How about that? Scrap paper has inspired the color scheme for my house! Now we already had some basic colors in mind, colors that we're taken from our kokopelli bath & bedding set. These basic colors seems to run the theme for much of the house. Plum purple, Sagish-Aqua color, and Golden Tan, but we've never really seen them all together other than on our comforter itself, that is until I saw these papers. The green is a little off, but the color you see in the flowers will be accent colors while the actual background color, which I can only describe as Butter? would be the main wall colors, or maybe we'll go with the darker one and do the Golden Tan. Take a look at the pictures and let me know what you think, and remember that these pictures don't really represent the true colors of the items as seen in person.

All I want for Christmas is....

our house! After having the home inspection and a termite inspection, we ran into a few problems - some rather small, some not so much. First off there's a small patch of about 10 little holes in a small area on the ceiling that had been caused by termites, but luckily we have gotten the seller to agree to pay for treatment. Ruben will only need to make some minor repairs to patch up the spots. However, the home inspector had found a few items that he thought may need attention brought to them for preventive maintenance reasons, and one thing that "could" potentially be threatening if not corrected. Apparently some of the wiring in the house is too small, and must be re-wired from the breaker box, to where-ever the wiring leads. If left the way it is, and somehow overloaded, it could pose as a fire hazard. The seller's do not want to take the time to have it fixed, so they are turning to us for a dollar amount as to how much we want in order to have it fixed our self, but we have no way of estimating such an item - a licensed electrician would only know, and then there would be the expense of restoring the walls and such back to their original state. So for the time being, our agent is looking into having a professional get an estimate, but at this rate it appears we will not be able to close on time on the 15th. Actually who really knows how far back these repairs may push us, but we're still hoping for a Christmas miracle for all to be fix and be able to close before then.

UGH! Besides all the house stuff, Christmas is nearing quickly and I have yet to send out cards, or gifts to my brother and sister. I have to make that my main focus next week, along with setting up an appointment to see a different plastic surgeon. I know nothing will happen this year, but at least I can get the consultation out of the way. I want to discuss with him having my other breast removed and replaced with an implant, and I should do that now so they can get all the approvals from the insurance company upfront. I just hope it's the right decision to make, although my body seems to think so, so it must be.

In the meantime, enjoy a picture of Natalie with Santa. We saw him the other day when we went to the Disney store at the mall to pick up our preordered copy of Pirates 2.......good flick!

Comic Relief 2006 bitchfest.

Has anyone seen this comedic show to benefit victims of Hurricane Katrina? I think it aired about 2 weeks ago on HBO. It was pretty funny, yet very sad at the same time, as they showed a lot of images and spoke with a lot of people effected by Katrina. One of the major themes of the show was to raise money not just to help re-build, but over and over again, they kept saying the money was needed to bring the people back, to bring businesses back, so the economy will raise. Well let me just say this, when it comes to the after effects of Katrina, and living in Louisiana, almost everyone is blind! This includes, celebs, the government, FEMA, and most businesses. While our purchase of a mere $285,000 house may not help the economy re-build much, people need to take into consideration that in order to come here and buy a house, you need homeowner's insurance - which since Katrina, is absolutely freaken ridiculous! Pretty much all the MAJOR insurance companies have stopped writing policies for several parts of New Orleans. We have found only 2 plans to chose from. One is the state plan, which as of 1/1/07, will be increasing 30%, the other plan we found is Republic, and they are charging an arm, a leg, and all of your children and your children's children. It's totally insane. How do they expect people to return here if no one can afford the insurance. And let me just state that the quote we got through both plans, DIDN'T EVEN INCLUDE FLOOD INSURANCE, just your standard homeowner's policy, along with wind and hail. The state plan which will increase 30% next year was roughly $4000 plus $1000 for flood, which will go from $4000 to $5200 next year. The other plan is also insanely priced at nearly $5000 for homeowner's and an additional $1100 for flood. Now I understand a lot of companies lost their ass when Katrina hit, but the house we are buying had no damage from the hurricane as it hadn't even been hit, but due to the hurricane, practically everything down here is listed as being in or near a flood zone. We came from living in northern Nevada and only paying $600 a year for homeowner's, and now we are looking at paying $500 a month. Trust me when I say, I'm not really a tight-wad. I love spending money, and would rather spend more money if it's for a better item, than buy the cheap thing. Ruben and I have this "thing", we no longer settle. After years of getting the cell phone that has a deal on it, or the cheaper printer, or what-ever it is that not quite a year later we are kicking ourselves in the ass for not buying the best, we've decided no-more. We ultimately buy the best to begin with so no more being mad later when something better comes along. So of course we want better insurance, and luckily Ruben is in a position we CAN afford it, we just have to play around with our finances, and maybe not give in to doing the impulse buying thing. With the cost of insurance, we will definitely have to eat more dinners in that what we currently do. But my complaint is for those don't earn a big salary. They'll never afford it, and it's horribly ridiculous. I have to say that besides the cost for gasoline, I honestly believe that the government should step in and try to mandate some of these costs, so regular 'ol Joe's don't get ass raped by these bullies. How else will New Orleans ever be the same?
It's definitely time to do a cost of living survey, and increase everyone's pay up to meet that of the area. otherwise, say goodbye to New Orleans and to Mardi Gras.

Some before pics

We're still trying to get everything together for our loan approval. Getting affordable insurance in this town is a BITCH. With all the wind, hail and flood crap, rates are out of this world, and surely seems as though they will solely be the death of me. So far we're looking at an annual price of $6000 for home owner's. It's crazy. The area didn't even flood during Katrina, but just since we've had 2 major hurricanes in the past 20+ years, the insurance company feel the need to ass rape you in order to provide you with coverage.
Anyway, here are some before pictures. These were taken off the listing for the house while it still contained furniture. Most of what you see in these pictures is either gone or will be going, as the house is getting a major overhaul with new paint, floors, fixtures, fence, and more. Enjoy and let me know what you think about our new home sweet home! The pix below are of the outside, the family room (which will be somewhat of a game room for Ruben) the pool table room (which will be changed to a family/living room), half of the master bath (can't wait to get in that jacuzzi tub!!!), and the over-sized master suite which is so big it also includes a sitting area and fireplace.

Homeless family buys house!

It's perfect timing all around! Just this morning, there was a loud bang on the door. I answered just in time to find the UPS man, as he was about to leave. The package he delivered was the proceeds sent overnight for the sale of our house in Spring Creek. So here we are, officially homeless - but don't worry, it wasn't for long. Shortly thereafter, the phone rang. It was Ruben calling to tell me that the offer we made on Monday (which had been countered, and countered yet again!) had been accepted. So we rushed off early this afternoon to sign papers and to put down our earnest money. If all goes according to plan we should close on our house on December 15th, but despite the rushed escrow, we won't be moving in just then. We have big plans before moving in to have the flooring and paint re-done, as well as a fence, the counter top, and upgrading bath and light fixtures. Yeah, I know it sounds like a ton of work. Good thing Ruben has made friends with the contractors who are re-doing his office at work. They are willing to take on side jobs such as painting, tile, wood floors, counter tops and bathrooms. We would only need to find someone to install a fence and lay carpet. They even will do the work for very decent wages, which is an added bonus. The goal is to get all the work done prior to moving in, and hopefully have it all done soon so we can get out of this apartment and get back all our belongings. I can't wait to be home, to have a home again, to have all my stuff and to have my scrap space again. But the best part (other than getting the house for less than the $350,000 asking price - a mere bargain at $285,000!) will be owning this HUGE house, and living comfortably again!
I will post before pictures soon. I know, I know, I still haven't even posted all the pictures from the drive here, or from the tour of the French Quarters - but I swear, I will post these before and after pictures!

I think we have a winner!

After seeing quite a few homes over the holiday weekend, I'm happy to say we have finally found the one. The house has been on the market for quite a while, so we are hoping to pick it up for less than asking price. The house, which has 4 bedrooms and 3 and 1/2 baths, has a whopping 3,600+ square feet. Of course, we found a few things we will want to replace - but as with any house, you want to make whatever changes are necessary to make it home. It's hard to say what the real selling point of the house was....possibly the 2+ car/golf cart over sized garage, maybe the kitchen with it's endless counter top, the master closet which was big enough to fit a 2 twin beds end to end, was it the 28x17 master, the 20x18 2nd bedroom, or was it the whole golf course community? In any case, we fell in love with it, and are on our way to meet with our agent today in hopes of extending an offer that will be accepted! Keep your fingers crossed!

Happy & Thankful

This year, however hard and difficult it has been with another move, and the loss of my mother - it still has brought to heart how much you should just stop everything in your life and enjoy it and those around you while you can, while they are here. Don't take anything for granted. Life is the greatest gift of all, and I've been blessed with it. I have this awesome gift of love from a wonderful husband, a beautiful child, and faithful canine companion. I'm thankful for having a place to eat and sleep, even if it means living temporarily in an apartment while in between houses. I'm thankful to have plenty of money in the bank to afford a very comfortable lifestyle that we've all become so accustom to. I'm thankful for all the family I have left, regardless of how small it has become. And this year, I am especially grateful for new friends, who in the absence of having family nearby, took us in and invited us into their home for a warm, down home, family style Thanksgiving with all of their family and friends. It's friends like these that make the best, and we've been blessed to have more than a few.
Happy Thanksgiving!

Christmas comes early for us....

Actually, that's not entirely true. We'll still be celebrating Christmas next month, and we'll still get gifts then, but we're all also getting what we want now. Last week was Cash Sharing for Ruben. Always nice to get this little bonus every May and November, but as an added bonus, he also got his Manager's Bonus as well. While his Manager's Bonus wasn't as big as what most Manager's get, we can't complain. After all, he was only a Manager for 1 month before the end of the Fiscal year. Besides, extra money is extra money. While we will be saving most of the money for Disney World in the Spring, some will also go for Christmas, as well as some expensive toys we've been wanting. I made a deal with Ruben that if he let's me have $1000, then he could have $1000 to spend on whatever he wants. Reluctantly, he agreed. He knew that his $1000 would buy the new Klipsch speakers he's been wanting for the surround sound....while my eye has been researching the new CraftRobo Pro my heart desires for all my scrapbooking needs. While I desperately want this machine, the cost made me think twice - but now with all this extra money, why not get it. I deserve it! Now I just gotta find a place that I want to order it from. I can't wait!!
This little goody will also make up for all that I am about to go through.
Now that I've settled in some here in Louisiana, I've started the search for new doctors. I'm going to see a plastic surgeon next week about undergoing breast reconstruction once again. I'm not looking forward to the pain, but it will be nice to put it all behind me once and for all. I also have to find a new pain doctor and a new oncologist. It's been a while since I've had a blood test to make sure I'm still in remission, and I also need a mammogram done...but that will have to wait till we get a house as my past films are packed up in storage. I'm actually thinking about having my other breast removed, even though I said after my mastectomy that I would NEVER EVER go through that again. The only reason why I contemplate it now is because of the fear of cancer returning. I think it would be better to get 2 implants at once, then get cancer down the road and go through all this again. It's a lot to think about and discuss with the doctor. Hell first we've gotta see if the insurance will approve it - which I don't really think will be a problem. But I wonder if I should wait on any procedures until we get settled into a house, which may be a few more months. Our old house hasn't even closed escrow yet, as the date has been put off twice now as the person buying the house of the person buying ours has had problems with the funding coming through.....that and all these bank holidays. Hopefully it will close this Tuesday as scheduled. Keep your fingers crossed, we want this done and over with.
Here's a picture of the new toy I want - look it up and you'll see all the great stuff this machine can do!

I know it's only November, but.....

I cannot wait till next month! Not just because of Christmas, but also because we have tickets, 3 tickets to be exact, to go see the Saint's play in the Dome! I don't think I've ever been this excited to see a football game....hell, I've never even seen a football game in person - only baseball and hockey, so this will be a first. Natalie's all happy that the 3 of us will get to go together. It's gonna be a great day! I for one know that I'm ready for some football!

More than a Halloween

It was more like a party. Ruben had heard from one of his co-workers about this housing area that is elaborately decorated, and known all around as being one of the best spots to trick or treat. We arrived early as told, to make sure we found parking, then awaited the darkness to come. We started going house to house shortly after the sun set. At first it was somewhat slow, but not long after the whole area was booming. There were hundreds of people everywhere, and everyone young and old were dressed up. It ended up more like Mardi Gras than Halloween. Aside from being an upscale neighborhood, we also found that motorcycle cops were regularly patrolling the area to make sure it a safe experience for all. One house had awesome decorations, as well as many people dressed up in scary costumes. I have to admit this house had even frightened me a bit! They had this guy running around as the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and another as Pinhead. This other house had all sorts of decorations, but the alien they had enclosed in a capsule is what really scared Natalie. You should have seen the way she jumped out of her skin when the arm moved, it was priceless! But more than the elaborate displays and massive crowds were the houses that gave out the real goods. At one house there were platters of Subway, cups full of soda, and even wine and beer. One house held a concert, as another made snow cones, and the last one had endless hot dogs and soda on tap. All this food and drink were in addition to the sack full of candy Natalie got. Then throw in the entertainment, and all the people, and you've got yourself the biggest party imaginable. That's the way to do Halloween!

What a blast!

Posting pictures from our Halloween party experience. It was awesome! Will post later about the whole night's activities.